In steam supply systems it is known to provide a steam trap in a steam line flanked by on/off valves wherein the on/off valves are connected by conventional plumbing fittings respectively to the inlet and outlet ports of the steam trap and by further conventional fittings to flanking ends of steam pipes defining upstream and downstream parts of such steam line. The valves are normally open during operation of the steam system but can be closed manually to shut-off steam flow and allow repair or replacement of the steam trap.
Applicant has found that such a plumbing arrangement is expensive, in terms of parts cost and labor expenditure, to install and is relatively bulky so as not to fit conveniently into a spacially crowded steam system.
Also known is a commercially available unit sold under the tradename "PIPING KINGS" available from U.S.A. Plenty, Inc. of Houston, Tex., in which a pair of on/off valve housings are sidewardly spaced from opposite sides of a steam trap housing and connected thereto by elongate conduits. The valve housings have respective steam inlet and outlet ports. The length axes of the trap chamber, valve chambers, conduits and ports are all substantially coplanar in at least one embodiment of the device and the sideward spacing of the valve housings from, and on opposite sides of the trap housing, results in a mechanically complex and space consuming system. In addition, the valve housings are configured each with length axis thereof acutely angled with respect to the length axis of their respective port (inlet or outlet) and the corresponding conduit by which they connect to the trap housing, such that the length axes of the valve housings converge with respect to each other and with respect to the length axis of the trap chamber in a manner to even further space apart the actuating handles of the on/off valves and thereby further increase the space required by the apparatus.
The present invention is intended to overcome these prior art disadvantages and provide new advantages, as will be apparent to persons acquainted with an apparatus of this general kind, upon reading the following description and inspecting the company drawings.